Auto run slideshows from CD

W

Wilfred

I want to add photos to a CD that will auto run a Windows slideshow when
inserted on a CD ROM drive. I know that photos on a CD can be displayed as
a slideshow by clicking on the slideshow icon or pressing F11 in the Windows
Picture and Fax Viewer. I want to be able to send a CD to friends or family
that will simply begin the slideshow when they put the CD in their CD
drives.

I have achieved this by using proprietary software like Roxio's PhotoSuite,
Adobe Photoshop Album, or Photodex's ProShow. The problem with the use of
proprietary software application to create the slideshows is that they will
only run if the software is installed on the computer. This makes
distributing slideshow CDs useful only for those recipients who also have
the software on their computers.

I have received CDs with a simple program in the root of the CD that
launches a slideshow but I have not been able to figure out how to do this.
I suspect that the CDs were created for retail distribution by photo
processing labs like Kodak or Fujifilm.

Suggestions?
 
Y

Yves Alarie

Go to this site:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/downloads/powertoys.asp
and download the free Slideshow.exe file in one of your folder. Once there,
double click on it to install it.
Once installed, it will be part of the XP CD copying wizard. You cannot
access it directly.
At one point, when using XP to copy photos to a CD, you will be asked if you
want to add this autorun feature. You answer yes and 3 files will be added
to the CD to make the slide show begin when inserting the CD on any Windows
system computer.
If you have an already made photo CD, add one more photo to it. This option
will come on when adding the photo. The 3 files will be added to the CD.
 
W

Wilfred

I installed the PowerToy. It writes the files you described (autorun.exe, autorun.inf, gdiplus.dll) when copying the photos to the CD.

However, when I insert the CD into the CD drive, nothing happens. I tried playing around with the AutoPlay options in the drive properties but none of the options is appropriate. There is one option to "View a slideshow of the images using Windows Picture and Fax Viewer" but that defeats the whole purpose of using the PowerToy to write the autorun program on the CD. Additionally, the AutoPlay options on my computer's drives would not match the options on other computers and the whole purpose of doing this is to send the CD to other users who may not have their PCs set to "View a slideshow of the images using Windows Picture and Fax Viewer".

FYI, double-clicking on the autorun.exe icon on the CD does lauch the slideshow. But that requires that the user explore the CD and launch the program manually, not exactly an AUTOrun.

Any idea why it doesn't work?
 
Y

Yves Alarie

Sorry, I forgot to add that you have to tell the recipients to open the CD and then click on the autorun.exe file to start the slide show. Also, you should tell recipients with older computers that it takes time to open a lot of picture files and to just wait for the first file to open and then for the following files to open.
You can purchased software like Photo Album to have a true autorun, but this is quite expensive if a slide show is all you want.
I installed the PowerToy. It writes the files you described (autorun.exe, autorun.inf, gdiplus.dll) when copying the photos to the CD.

However, when I insert the CD into the CD drive, nothing happens. I tried playing around with the AutoPlay options in the drive properties but none of the options is appropriate. There is one option to "View a slideshow of the images using Windows Picture and Fax Viewer" but that defeats the whole purpose of using the PowerToy to write the autorun program on the CD. Additionally, the AutoPlay options on my computer's drives would not match the options on other computers and the whole purpose of doing this is to send the CD to other users who may not have their PCs set to "View a slideshow of the images using Windows Picture and Fax Viewer".

FYI, double-clicking on the autorun.exe icon on the CD does lauch the slideshow. But that requires that the user explore the CD and launch the program manually, not exactly an AUTOrun.

Any idea why it doesn't work?
 
W

Wilfred

In that case, the autorun program is superfluous. Users could open the CD and click on the Windows XP slideshow icon and view the slideshow in the Windows Picture and Fax Viewer.

I guess I really do not understand why the PowerToys developers even call it "autorun.exe". It doesn't run automatically.
Sorry, I forgot to add that you have to tell the recipients to open the CD and then click on the autorun.exe file to start the slide show. Also, you should tell recipients with older computers that it takes time to open a lot of picture files and to just wait for the first file to open and then for the following files to open.
You can purchased software like Photo Album to have a true autorun, but this is quite expensive if a slide show is all you want.
I installed the PowerToy. It writes the files you described (autorun.exe, autorun.inf, gdiplus.dll) when copying the photos to the CD.

However, when I insert the CD into the CD drive, nothing happens. I tried playing around with the AutoPlay options in the drive properties but none of the options is appropriate. There is one option to "View a slideshow of the images using Windows Picture and Fax Viewer" but that defeats the whole purpose of using the PowerToy to write the autorun program on the CD. Additionally, the AutoPlay options on my computer's drives would not match the options on other computers and the whole purpose of doing this is to send the CD to other users who may not have their PCs set to "View a slideshow of the images using Windows Picture and Fax Viewer".

FYI, double-clicking on the autorun.exe icon on the CD does lauch the slideshow. But that requires that the user explore the CD and launch the program manually, not exactly an AUTOrun.

Any idea why it doesn't work?
 
Y

Yves Alarie

If you distribute the CD to others on XP only, it is obviously pointless. However, not everybody is on XP and we can't read your mind here. I have no idea about the OS and computers that your friends have. If all your friends are on XP just send the CD. You asked a question. You received an answer.
In that case, the autorun program is superfluous. Users could open the CD and click on the Windows XP slideshow icon and view the slideshow in the Windows Picture and Fax Viewer.

I guess I really do not understand why the PowerToys developers even call it "autorun.exe". It doesn't run automatically.
Sorry, I forgot to add that you have to tell the recipients to open the CD and then click on the autorun.exe file to start the slide show. Also, you should tell recipients with older computers that it takes time to open a lot of picture files and to just wait for the first file to open and then for the following files to open.
You can purchased software like Photo Album to have a true autorun, but this is quite expensive if a slide show is all you want.
I installed the PowerToy. It writes the files you described (autorun.exe, autorun.inf, gdiplus.dll) when copying the photos to the CD.

However, when I insert the CD into the CD drive, nothing happens. I tried playing around with the AutoPlay options in the drive properties but none of the options is appropriate. There is one option to "View a slideshow of the images using Windows Picture and Fax Viewer" but that defeats the whole purpose of using the PowerToy to write the autorun program on the CD. Additionally, the AutoPlay options on my computer's drives would not match the options on other computers and the whole purpose of doing this is to send the CD to other users who may not have their PCs set to "View a slideshow of the images using Windows Picture and Fax Viewer".

FYI, double-clicking on the autorun.exe icon on the CD does lauch the slideshow. But that requires that the user explore the CD and launch the program manually, not exactly an AUTOrun.

Any idea why it doesn't work?
 
J

John Inzer

Wilfred said:
I want to add photos to a CD that will auto run a Windows
slideshow when inserted on a CD ROM drive. I know that
photos on a CD can be displayed as a slideshow by
clicking on the slideshow icon or pressing F11 in the
Windows Picture and Fax Viewer. I want to be able to
send a CD to friends or family that will simply begin the
slideshow when they put the CD in their CD drives.

I have achieved this by using proprietary software like
Roxio's PhotoSuite, Adobe Photoshop Album, or Photodex's
ProShow. The problem with the use of proprietary
software application to create the slideshows is that
they will only run if the software is installed on the
computer. This makes distributing slideshow CDs useful
only for those recipients who also have the software on
their computers.

I have received CDs with a simple program in the root of
the CD that launches a slideshow but I have not been able
to figure out how to do this. I suspect that the CDs were
created for retail distribution by photo processing labs
like Kodak or Fujifilm.

Suggestions?
=========================================
The following free program will allow you to create
a simple self launching full screen slide show.

MyAlbum:
http://tinyurl.com/ha6d

Here are some instructions:

Making a simple self launching slide show with My Album, by John Inzer

O.K I downloaded the program....Uh! Oh! What am I gonna do now?

I'll tell you what's on my CD...as you might guess, I made a few coasters
and when I found a combination that works I retained the formula. There may
be some changes that could be made to the Autorun.ini but it works and I
ain't planning to fix it.

I make a folder on my desktop to put all the stuff in and when everything is
ready I just copy the contents of the folder to the CD-R.

#1) Open MyAlbum and create an Album making sure that at...Edit / Album
Information tab...Set the delay (I set mine at "3"...."5" seconds between
images seems too long to me)...check-"Autoflip"...check-"Use relative path".
On the color and appearance tab...I uncheck-"Display Comments". Then Save
your album and copy to the folder on your desktop.

#2) Place full size copies of all the images that you included in your Album
in your folder.

#3) You need to copy four files from the MyAlbum program...you will find it
at...C:\Program Files\MyAlbum.
MyAlbum.exe
MyAlbum.gid
MyAlbum.hlp
MyAlbum.cnt
Copy these to your folder.

#4) Open notepad and create your Autorun.inf...if you copy the following and
save it as "Autorun.inf" it should work for you.

(replace all instances of...Gift...with the name of your .alb file)

[autorun]
title=Gift.alb
icon=MyAlbum.exe

open=MyAlbum.exe Gift.ALB /play

shell\play=&Gift
shell\play\command=MyAlbum.exe Gift /play

Place the Autorun.ini in your folder and get ready to burn. Copy everything
in the folder direct to the CD...no folders...just the complete file list.

Good luck :blush:)


--

John Inzer
Picture It! MVP
return e-mail disabled

Picture It! Support Center
http://support.microsoft.com/?pr=pic
 
W

Wilfred

Your answer was and is appreciated.

Although my comments may have revealed some of my frustration, they were not intended to offend you.
If you distribute the CD to others on XP only, it is obviously pointless. However, not everybody is on XP and we can't read your mind here. I have no idea about the OS and computers that your friends have. If all your friends are on XP just send the CD. You asked a question. You received an answer.
In that case, the autorun program is superfluous. Users could open the CD and click on the Windows XP slideshow icon and view the slideshow in the Windows Picture and Fax Viewer.

I guess I really do not understand why the PowerToys developers even call it "autorun.exe". It doesn't run automatically.
Sorry, I forgot to add that you have to tell the recipients to open the CD and then click on the autorun.exe file to start the slide show. Also, you should tell recipients with older computers that it takes time to open a lot of picture files and to just wait for the first file to open and then for the following files to open.
You can purchased software like Photo Album to have a true autorun, but this is quite expensive if a slide show is all you want.
I installed the PowerToy. It writes the files you described (autorun.exe, autorun.inf, gdiplus.dll) when copying the photos to the CD.

However, when I insert the CD into the CD drive, nothing happens. I tried playing around with the AutoPlay options in the drive properties but none of the options is appropriate. There is one option to "View a slideshow of the images using Windows Picture and Fax Viewer" but that defeats the whole purpose of using the PowerToy to write the autorun program on the CD. Additionally, the AutoPlay options on my computer's drives would not match the options on other computers and the whole purpose of doing this is to send the CD to other users who may not have their PCs set to "View a slideshow of the images using Windows Picture and Fax Viewer".

FYI, double-clicking on the autorun.exe icon on the CD does lauch the slideshow. But that requires that the user explore the CD and launch the program manually, not exactly an AUTOrun.

Any idea why it doesn't work?
 
Y

Yves Alarie

Absolutely no offense taken. This is a friendly site. Sorry if my answer was a little "abrupt".
Your answer was and is appreciated.

Although my comments may have revealed some of my frustration, they were not intended to offend you.
If you distribute the CD to others on XP only, it is obviously pointless. However, not everybody is on XP and we can't read your mind here. I have no idea about the OS and computers that your friends have. If all your friends are on XP just send the CD. You asked a question. You received an answer.
In that case, the autorun program is superfluous. Users could open the CD and click on the Windows XP slideshow icon and view the slideshow in the Windows Picture and Fax Viewer.

I guess I really do not understand why the PowerToys developers even call it "autorun.exe". It doesn't run automatically.
Sorry, I forgot to add that you have to tell the recipients to open the CD and then click on the autorun.exe file to start the slide show. Also, you should tell recipients with older computers that it takes time to open a lot of picture files and to just wait for the first file to open and then for the following files to open.
You can purchased software like Photo Album to have a true autorun, but this is quite expensive if a slide show is all you want.
I installed the PowerToy. It writes the files you described (autorun.exe, autorun.inf, gdiplus.dll) when copying the photos to the CD.

However, when I insert the CD into the CD drive, nothing happens. I tried playing around with the AutoPlay options in the drive properties but none of the options is appropriate. There is one option to "View a slideshow of the images using Windows Picture and Fax Viewer" but that defeats the whole purpose of using the PowerToy to write the autorun program on the CD. Additionally, the AutoPlay options on my computer's drives would not match the options on other computers and the whole purpose of doing this is to send the CD to other users who may not have their PCs set to "View a slideshow of the images using Windows Picture and Fax Viewer".

FYI, double-clicking on the autorun.exe icon on the CD does lauch the slideshow. But that requires that the user explore the CD and launch the program manually, not exactly an AUTOrun.

Any idea why it doesn't work?
 
W

Wilfred

Three of the four files you mention:

MyAlbum.gid
MyAlbum.hlp
MyAlbum.cnt

are not in the C:\Program Files\MyAlbum folder. Are they critical?

I copied "MyAlbum.exe", the modified "autonrun.inf" file, the album file,
and the image files to a CD. Seems to work OK on my PC (Windows XP Pro).
Don't know if it will work on other systems (Win98, WinMe, Win2K, etc.) yet.

Thanks!
 
W

Wilfred

I have two questions about the slideshows?
1.. Is there a way to assign different durations to individual pictures? For example, assuming the slide show is set to change images every 5 seconds, can one select individual pictures and extend the duration to 10 seonds?
2.. Is there a way to pause the show?
Thanks in advance!

Wilfred
 
W

Wilfred

John, by now you probably regret helping me with this really great little program! Unfortunately, no good deed goes unpunished...

I created a slideshow with background music. The music file is shorter than the duration of the slideshow but it is a guitar solo instrumental and it would be fine to simply loop the music. I tried adding the flag to loop the music but the program simply plays the music file once. I experimented with a short 8 second music clip and oddly enough, it loops it, but the 9 minute clip just stops at the end of one play.

These are the different commands I have tried in the Background music box:

media|D:\My Music\Kaki King\Everybody Loves You\10 Fortuna.mp3|C
media|D:\My Music\Kaki King\Everybody Loves You\10 Fortuna.mp3|R
media|D:\My Music\Kaki King\Everybody Loves You\10 Fortuna.mp3|CR

Any suggestions?




John Inzer said:
=========================================
The following free program will allow you to create
a simple self launching full screen slide show.

MyAlbum:
http://tinyurl.com/ha6d

Here are some instructions:

Making a simple self launching slide show with My Album, by John Inzer

O.K I downloaded the program....Uh! Oh! What am I gonna do now?

I'll tell you what's on my CD...as you might guess, I made a few coasters
and when I found a combination that works I retained the formula. There may
be some changes that could be made to the Autorun.ini but it works and I
ain't planning to fix it.

I make a folder on my desktop to put all the stuff in and when everything is
ready I just copy the contents of the folder to the CD-R.

#1) Open MyAlbum and create an Album making sure that at...Edit / Album
Information tab...Set the delay (I set mine at "3"...."5" seconds between
images seems too long to me)...check-"Autoflip"...check-"Use relative path".
On the color and appearance tab...I uncheck-"Display Comments". Then Save
your album and copy to the folder on your desktop.

#2) Place full size copies of all the images that you included in your Album
in your folder.

#3) You need to copy four files from the MyAlbum program...you will find it
at...C:\Program Files\MyAlbum.
MyAlbum.exe
MyAlbum.gid
MyAlbum.hlp
MyAlbum.cnt
Copy these to your folder.

#4) Open notepad and create your Autorun.inf...if you copy the following and
save it as "Autorun.inf" it should work for you.

(replace all instances of...Gift...with the name of your .alb file)

[autorun]
title=Gift.alb
icon=MyAlbum.exe

open=MyAlbum.exe Gift.ALB /play

shell\play=&Gift
shell\play\command=MyAlbum.exe Gift /play

Place the Autorun.ini in your folder and get ready to burn. Copy everything
in the folder direct to the CD...no folders...just the complete file list.

Good luck :blush:)


--

John Inzer
Picture It! MVP
return e-mail disabled

Picture It! Support Center
http://support.microsoft.com/?pr=pic
 
J

John Inzer

Wilfred said:
John, by now you probably regret helping me with this
really great little program!
========================================
I am no expert on the MyAlbum program...your best bet
is to experiment with it. And...the help files are good
also.
========================================
Unfortunately, no good deed
goes unpunished...

I created a slideshow with background music. The music
file is shorter than the duration of the slideshow but it
is a guitar solo instrumental and it would be fine to
simply loop the music. I tried adding the flag to loop
the music but the program simply plays the music file
once. I experimented with a short 8 second music clip
and oddly enough, it loops it, but the 9 minute clip just
stops at the end of one play.

These are the different commands I have tried in the
Background music box:

media|D:\My Music\Kaki King\Everybody Loves You\10
Fortuna.mp3|C
media|D:\My Music\Kaki King\Everybody Loves You\10
Fortuna.mp3|R
media|D:\My Music\Kaki King\Everybody Loves You\10
Fortuna.mp3|CR

Any suggestions?
==========================================
Simple solution...make copies of your music file and
combine them into one with the following free program.
Or you could combine several different files.

Download MediaJoin
http://www.newfreeware.com/utils/1894/


You also may want to give IrfanView a try
it also is capable of making a self launching
CD slideshow.

IrfanView 3.85
http://www.tucows.com/preview/194967.html
(get the plug-ins too)


--

John Inzer
Picture It! MVP
return e-mail disabled

Picture It! Support Center
http://support.microsoft.com/?pr=pic
 
J

John Inzer

Wilfred said:
Three of the four files you mention:

MyAlbum.gid
MyAlbum.hlp
MyAlbum.cnt

are not in the C:\Program Files\MyAlbum folder. Are
they critical?
========================================
I wrote the instructions when I was running
Windows 98. Maybe the Windows XP file
system alters the files in some way because
now that you mention it...I don't have those
files in my MyAlbum folder either.

The instructions for creating the Autorun
CD are in the MyAlbum help files...go to...
How to / Build a CD-ROM album.


Have you tried PhotoStory...it creates an
animated slideshow that will play in Windows
Media Player.

You can download a free version of Plus
PhotoStory 2 LE at the following site...also
you can download some sample Photo
Stories.

Try out Plus! Photo Story 2 LE
http://tinyurl.com/tmzu

To create a PhotoStory requires WinXP
and WMP9 but they can be viewed with
WinSE or better and WMP7.1 or better

--

John Inzer
Picture It! MVP
return e-mail disabled

Picture It! Support Center
http://support.microsoft.com/?pr=pic
 
J

John Inzer

Wilfred said:
I have two questions about the slideshows?
1.. Is there a way to assign different durations to
individual pictures? For example, assuming the slide
show is set to change images every 5 seconds, can one
select individual pictures and extend the duration to 10
seonds?
2.. Is there a way to pause the show?
Thanks in advance!

Wilfred
==============================
I don't know how to assign different timeouts
to individual images.

Pause the show with your "S" key. Pressing
"S" again will restart the show.

When paused...you can advance to the next
image with your Spacebar and view previous
images with your Backspace key.

Read the Help files they are very useful.


--

John Inzer
Picture It! MVP
return e-mail disabled

Picture It! Support Center
http://support.microsoft.com/?pr=pic
 

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